More Than This
by 20Below
Summary: AU Natsuki Kuga leads a life that she can't escape. Her father; an abusive alcoholic, her mother; deceased for five years, her friends; non existent. Can all that change with the arrival of one Shizuru Fujino? Eventual ShizNat.
1. Chapter 1

**_More Than This_**

_Chapter One; Just Another Day_

_We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars._

**_- Oscar Wild_**

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* * *

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Natsuki Kuga was exhausted.

The walk home from school was slow as always, her feet slowly trudging each step, the concrete tapping slightly in response and the house in the distance getting closer and closer. She found herself wishing that the walk home was longer and that there was some excuse that could keep her at school longer after hours. She found herself wishing for this everyday. And she found that nothing ever changed and by the time she had finished her wish, she would already be home. With effort she raised her head and stared at the closed door in front of her. With a sigh she pushed it open.

Natsuki kicked off her black converse, and stepped lightly into the hallway, cringing when the wood creaked as her weight was pushed on it. Exhaling slowly she continued her slow trudge up the stair case in front of her, making a bee line for her room.

The house was dark, no one apart from Natsuki was home and that alleviated a small amount of tension from her body. She walked past the living room, where the TV was still blaring silently from whatever her father was watching last night. There were also various beer cans scattered around the carpeted floor and the room felt small and suffocating due to clutter. Turning her head away, she continued on to her room and stumbled through the door, managing to only close it before she collapsed onto the bed. She was asleep in moments.

* * *

Natsuki knew she was in trouble the moment she awoke. The front door had slammed shut and she had woken, startled. Incoherent mumbling was heard from the hallway and Natsuki's heart started to pound. Heavy footsteps thundered unevenly up the stairs, sometimes stopping as the walker was most likely trying to regain some semblance of balance. Natsuki shut her eyes. She knew pretending to be asleep was useless but when it came to her father she never knew what to do, was never able to think clearly enough past the fear that froze her every time he looked her way.

For almost as long as she could remember, violence at home was something Natsuki had always been familiar with, but never something she couldn't handle. There had always been the occasional roughing up by her father, sometimes a loose hand would come her way, but there had only been a few incidents that had left the young girl truly frightened. Now it was different. Back then apologies would be given by both parties, a truce made until the next argument. Now things only went from bad to worse.

Natsuki was ten when her mother died. She never really knew what had happened, only one day her mother had not come home and her father had come back broken. It wasn't for another six months that the problem really started.

Her father started drinking. A lot. It was after she had come home from school that she had smelt the alcohol on his breath when he answered the door. Natsuki had been further shocked that evening when, instead of sleeping the alcohol off, her father opened the fridge and continued to drink, getting more belligerent with each glass he knocked back.

It was terrifying to watch her father, who at times could be cruel and unpleasant was still a man she loved dearly, transform into a raging monster with no self control. The drunker he got, the more inane he became, sprouting off incriminating, not to mention false, accusations about Natsuki being the cause of her mother's death. Any protests on Natsuki's part managed only to infuriate him further. The first time her father had dragged her to her room, she knew it was going to be unpleasant, but she wasn't nearly as prepared as she thought she was.

The next morning was the first of many that Natsuki was to awake bruised and beaten. And five years later nothing had changed. Her father still drank, still abused her, and she still came home every night. Why? Because she had no where else to go.

A yank on her arm brought her back to the present and she yelped, surprised that she had been so consumed in her thoughts that she had not heard the door open. Her father threw her angrily to the floor and trained enraged eyes on to wide, fearful green ones.

"Well, brat, how was school?" As if he really cared.

He kicked her in the stomach when Natsuki took too long catching her breath and not answering. He picked Natsuki up by her shirt collar and slammed her against the wall, grasping her pale throat in his hands. He pressed against her throat and Natsuki clawed at his hands, kicking her legs wildly as she tried to breathe. A fist suddenly made contact with the side of her head and her vision swam dangerously. She was dropped to the floor and she whimpered, curling into her body, trying to find the least painful position to lie on as she lay there. A sharp kick was delivered to her legs and she instinctively moved them, leaving her stomach unprotected. More kicks were rained onto her torso and she tried desperately to crawl away, she could feel unconsciousness creeping up on her and she was relieved, thankful to be finally drowned in its comforting darkness. Away from her father, away from the beatings. If only for a little while.

**A/N: **Hmm, i swear i _started_ to write the next chapter of The Downward Spiral. This is what happened /confusion/ haha blame the muses. I'm not sure if i will continue with this one, depends on whether or not it gets a response. So let me know if you're interested to see where its going, thanks everyone.


	2. Chapter 2

**More Than This**

_Chapter Two; Behind Closed Doors_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Mai Hime...yet evil laugh _

_Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live._

_- **Dorothy Thompson**_

"…"

"…ki"

_Hmm what?_ Natsuki sighed, burrowing deeper into the sheets. _Ki? Whats a..._ her inner voice trailed off, not particularly caring about this Ki object, preferring to go back into blissful slumber.

"Natsuki."

Well that was a name she knew. She still couldn't bring herself to care however and simply clenched her eyes shut tighter.

"_Natsuki_."

A hand came down gently onto her shoulder and shook. The sleepy girl winced, finding the shoulder still tender and muttered a quiet complaint to the offender.

"Mrrhgmm" _Leave me alone._

Well that didn't come out the way it was supposed to. She heard someone sigh above her and felt the bed creak slightly as another weight was added to it. She guessed that the person had sat themselves on the edge of the bed. Wait. Bed? Natsuki distinctly remembered 'falling asleep' last night on the lovely wooden floorboards of her room. _So how did I get into the bed?_

She cracked her eyes open and looked around the room blearily. She saw a blotch of flaming red hair and blinked, hoping to clear her vision. Her mouth felt like someone had stuffed cotton wool in it and the rest of her body… well… it felt like someone had beaten the shit out of her. How fitting.

She focused her senses back onto the shape in front of her, a shape that was becoming less blurred the longer she stared at it.

"Wakey wakey, pup."

Natsuki sighed in relief. Nao. Although she didn't know who else she was expecting, as this was an almost daily routine.

Nao Yuuki had at first been Natsuki's next door neighbour and very little else; a stranger, a nobody. That was how it was when the redheaded girl had first moved in three years ago. Since then however she had become Natsuki's one and only, friend. After meeting each other at school Nao had somehow managed to worm her way into Natsuki's life. Nao had been lonely and would not give up the chance to be with someone who could actually have a chance of understanding her. And despite how much she might act like she didn't need anyone, Natsuki also had wanted, needed, a friend.

Through the years they sat with each other at school, not allowing any one else to get close, they walked with each other home and they both tried to prolong entering their respective houses for fear of what greeted them once they walked through the door. Nao's home life, while different from Natsuki's, was still unpleasant. She had opened up to Natsuki one day after she had gone home to find her mother being beaten by a strange man. He had run off after he had seen Nao walk in, whispering a few quiet words to her mother before he stalked out the front door. Nao had always known her mothers profession and had never agreed to it but had never actually had to see what consequences her mother had to go through. You see, Yuuki senior was a prostitute, and Nao was always in danger from her mothers work if one of her 'customers' was not satisfied and the big boss sent someone to deal with the reason the 'customer' was not happy.

They had grown closer to each other than they had ever thought possible, both fiercely independent and mistrustful, however both needing to rely on the other from time to time. Natsuki had never told Nao about her father, but it had been too hard to hide the bruises from the other girl and it didn't take her long to figure out what was going on. Over the years Nao had developed a sort of mothering syndrome when it came to Natsuki. Despite being a little younger than the blue haired girl, Nao couldn't help but want to protect her from her father. After a beating, Natsuki never had to wake up alone as Nao would climb through the window and sit with her for the night, chasing away her nightmares, or, when they were younger, drying her tears. Nao had said she can always tell when her father roughs her up because on those nights Natsuki was never conscious to turn the lights out and her father never bothered after he walked out. It was sort of a signal for Nao to come over. And Natsuki was grateful that she was perceptive enough to notice. She didn't know what she would do without the fiery girl now.

"Come on, Nat, we've got to get you cleaned up before school."

Hands pulled back the comforter on her bed and wrapped around her middle, gently trying to ease her up and out onto the floor. Natsuki groaned as her feet touched the wood, finding it difficult to carry her body weight. With Nao's help she started to move towards the shower, knowing that she will feel slightly more human after a nice warm shower.

Natsuki heard the girl behind her sigh. They had reached the bathroom and Nao was helping the older girl remove her shirt. The redhead winced at the bruises that marred her skin. Patches of black, blue, yellow, purple, you name it, colours from previous marks were still visible on the pale skin as well as the raw marks left over from last night. Nao used to say something whenever she saw the cuts and bruises; 'it's not your fault, Natsuki', 'you haven't done anything wrong, Natsuki' and her personal favourite; 'we're going to get out of here one day, Natsuki'. She knew that the younger girl was just trying to comfort her but after a while she stopped saying anything, perhaps finally realising that pretty words aren't going to make her feel any better or make the pain go away.

"Don't be too long, okay?" Nao's voice was gentle, and it was one of the rare few times Natsuki ever heard it like that. The redhead was a completely different person when she was addressing Natsuki; she was thoughtful, kind, however as soon as someone else came in to the picture she was scathing and cruel. It had always been like that.

Natsuki heard the door shut quietly and she took a few shaky steps towards the mirror. She examined the damage, running her fingers gingerly along the cut on her temple, no doubt caused by his nails. It was an angry red, stark on her already puffy face, the result of her lack of sleep and the bruises she had earned. She turned away abruptly and stepped lightly into the shower.

* * *

Natsuki stuffed her hands into her pockets and glared ruefully at the bright sun. She would have preferred it to be raining, not for anything quite so as melodramatic as the weather matching her inner turmoil, rather because the overcast clouds block the sun and make her bruises easier to hide and less visible at first glance.

"Are you working on the bike this afternoon?"

Nao glanced her way and stuck a packet of cigarettes under her nose. She shook them a bit when Natsuki didn't look at them at first. Grabbing one, the bluenette stuck it in her mouth and leaned over to the other girl who was holding up a lighter in her other hand. Natsuki sucked the white stick into her mouth to get it alight and then took a long drag, turning her head the other way before exhaling the smoke out of her lungs.

Finally she answered the earlier question from Nao with one of her own, "Why?"

Nao lit up her own cigarette before answering. "I need to stay behind at school today." She kicked a can that was on the pavement angrily and continued at Natsuki's questioning look. "I called my maths teacher, you know that greasy lookin' guy? Yeah, well, I called him a perverted dickhead."

"You always call teachers perverted dickheads."

"Yes, but I very rarely back it up with a kick to the balls." They shared a quiet laugh.

"And what did he do to deserve this?" Natsuki was smirking softly at the younger girl, amused that she somehow managed to not get expelled after a stunt like that. _Although_, Natsuki mused, _she has pulled off much worse things_.

"He was trying to look up my skirt." Nao sniffed and turned her nose up slightly.

"Weren't you wearing jeans yesterday?"

"Details details." Nao dismissed the notion with a wave of her hand and a slight scoff. She took a long drag of her cigarette before tossing the last of it, having finished the stick quickly through their conversation.

"Anyway," She continued on with her earlier questioning about what the other girl was doing this afternoon. "I want you to wait for me; I have to show you something later on."

"What is it?"

"You'll just have to wait and see ne?"

"Fine, whatever." Natsuki sighed, wondering what she was going to do for the duration of Nao's detention. She too finished off the last of her cancer stick and flicked the bud onto the road beside them.

The redhead looked at her watch and cursed softly under her breath. She abruptly grabbed the other girls hand and started tugging, picking up her pace along the pavement.

"Come on, we're going to be late."

* * *

School passed in a blur. Like looking out side the window on a train, everything moved past her, everyone minding their own business, face forwards to the blackboard. She could hear feet shuffling along the floor as students got restless in their seats, she could hear desks being bumped forwards accidently and emitting a high pitched sound, she could hear people coughing and scratching their arms as they fidgeted and she could hear the teacher drone on endlessly about some such nonsense that she had no interest in.

Natsuki spent most classes drawing mindlessly in her school book or writing down lyrics or guitar chords. She listened to her music player most lessons as well, only so she wouldn't have to listen to everyone get the answers wrong when they were called on by the teacher.

The bell rang, signalling the end of the day, and there was a mad rush as people gathered their belongings off the desk and hastily shoved in their chairs before scrambling out of the room. Honestly, what was the rush? Natsuki was thankful to be able to finally get out of there that was for sure but there was no need to take off like a sleeping pig that just got pin pricked in the bum. Natsuki internally cringed at the mental picture of all of the students as smelly pigs trying to squeeze through the door.

_That's it_, she decided,_ I_ _need to get out of this room_. Obviously the smell from the Nikko pens or something was messing with her head for her to be coming up with thoughts like that. She made her way out of the classroom and into the hall, glaring at anyone who wouldn't move out of her way fast enough. She spotted Nao leaning against one of the lockers up ahead and made her way over to her.

"Ah, Natsuki, I'll meet you here in about an hour" Nao was hurriedly packing things from her locker into her bag as she talked. Natsuki spied the half empty packet of cigarettes in one of the redhead's pockets and plucked them from her.

"Oi." Nao glared half-heartedly at her.

Natsuki raised an eyebrow in response.

"Urgh, never mind." Nao mumbled, slamming her locker shut. After twisting the lock she turned and started jogging down the hall, turning her head back for a second to call out to Natsuki as she ran off to her detention.

"Here, an hour, pup!" She moved around the corner and then she was gone.

The blue haired girl shook her head softly at her friend's antics before walking in the opposite direction through the quiet corridors. Ten minutes after the final bell had rung and everyone was already out of the school and making their way home, or whatever they did in the afternoon. Natsuki dragged her feet as she walked down the hall, in no real rush; she had an hour to kill after all. _Should I go outside or something?_ A quick look out a nearby window showed her a few leftover students milling about and she decided that there wouldn't be enough privacy down there. That and she didn't want to deal with the stares she would get if she lit up a smoke. She was coming towards the end of the hallway and decided just to set up camp here for a while. Swinging her bag off her shoulder she sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall with one leg propped up while the other was spread out in front of her. She quietly cursed the maker of skinny jeans as she could feel the waistline of the pants drop down to an almost dangerous level on her waist. Sighing, Natsuki grabbed her art book out of her bag as well as a ballpoint pen. Setting the objects down on her lap she also rummaged through her pockets to find the packet of Nao's cigarettes before taking out her lighter and lighting up a stick. Finally comfortable Natsuki took a drag from her smoke and started to draw.

It wasn't much later that she heard something down the other end of the hallway, voices. It sounded like two people although she couldn't be sure as the words were garbled from them being so far away. She didn't take much notice of it, gathering that a few teachers were talking about how shit their day was teaching a bunch of no brain kids. Or something like that. She flicked some of the ash off her cigarette before holding the drawing out in front of her and taking a look. She bit her lip in thought, trying to figure out what was missing from the drawing. She brought the book back down to prop up against her raised knee and decided to go over the shading again while she thought.

She heard footsteps coming down the hall towards her and she paid little attention to it. When two expensively clad feet came to a stop in front of her however, she looked up. And saw red.

"Ara, is this my welcoming gift?"

**A/N: **Alright, well there you have it. I have a question for all you readers out there; would you prefer Shizuru to be either a STUDENT, TEACHER, school NURSE or school PHYCHOLOGIST. Please let me know which one you would prefer because i cant decide XD Thanks everyone! Thanks for all the reveiws too!


	3. Chapter 3

**More Than This**

_Chapter Three; Strange And Beautiful (I'll Put A Spell On You)_

_I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that gentleness is to be expected only from the strong.__**  
**_**- Leo Rosten**

"Ara, is this my welcoming gift?"

Is falling asleep when you close your eyes at night or when you open them in the morning? Natsuki still wasn't sure. She wasn't sure about a lot of things, however she knew now that she must be dreaming. She felt a stab of pride for her subconscious – she never would have thought that it had the ability to think up something as perfect as the creation in front of her.

Those expensively clad feet had lead to expensively clad black stockings that hugged the woman's long legs up to her dark business skirt. A matching jacket was worn over a white blouse where chestnut tresses cascaded down to her brea--

"Ikezu! Does my gift not wish to talk to me?" The woman's head tilted to the side a little and her bottom lip pushed out ever so slightly. Her eyes strange red eyes started to cloud slightly with moisture and it made Natsuki feel like she had just beaten a kitten with a stick. A cute, sexy, hot, gorgeous, beautiful --

Natsuki snapped out of her thoughts and somewhere in the back of her head she heard a voice telling her to check for drool at the corner of her mouth.

"W-wha-at?" Oh great. Fantastic, Natsuki. You sure know how to ch-ch-charm a girl. Loser.

Natsuki's right eye twitched ever so slightly.

"Kawaii!" The woman had brought her hands together and brought them to the side of her face while giving the younger girl a closed eye smile. It made Natsuki's heart contract painfully. It also made her jaw drop at the unexpected act of this professional looking woman doing something so incredibly cu--childish. Unfortunately the blue haired girl's cigarette, sill alight, was hanging at the corner of her mouth during their conversation and the action of dropping her jaw to stare at the woman made it slip out of her mouth and onto the back of her hand. So caught up in staring at the older woman, Natsuki failed to notice the burning sensation in her hand until it was pointed out to her by said older woman.

"Ara." The woman frowned lightly and turned her crimson gaze to Natsuki's lap where her hands were still folded over her drawing pad. The younger girl followed her line of sight.

"Eh?" Green eyes widened as they looked down.

"Ah! Fuck, shit, _dammit_!" Natsuki then proceeded to do what looked like a bad interpretation of the wiggles hand movement. Flicking her hand off of her note bad she shook the offending limb to try and get the cigarette bud off and to try and ease the sting that was forming from the burn. She jumped up off the ground as the bud landed a few feet beside her and started to stomp on it and grind her heel onto it. Finally satisfied that she had killed it, adding a Kuga death glare in before she let it off the hook, she looked down to inspect her hand. An angry red mark was spreading around the burn and the skin looked a little like the skin on a fried chicken. Slim fingers encased her hand suddenly and Natsuki felt frozen. Looking up slightly she could see the honey haired woman standing so close to her that she could feel the heat emitting from her body.

"Let me have a look at that." Her voice was so much softer now, the woman's warm breath caressed her cheeks and Natsuki felt her own cheeks blaze.

Natsuki opened her mouth to voice a protest but the words caught in her throat as the stranger started to stroke her hand lightly, being careful not to aggravate the wound.

"O-oi," Natsuki snatched her hand away, "its fine."

"Is that so?"

The blue haired girl bent down to gather her belongings "I've had wors- Ah!" Natsuki dropped the bag that she had hurriedly picked up with her injured hand, cursing under her breath.

"Come, we'll let the nurse have a look at you." The words were gentle however there was a soft undertone of commandment in her voice.

"But—" Natsuki barely got a word in before the weird woman had grabbed her uninjured hand, scooped up her bag and was dragging her down the hall.

She flashed a small smile at Natsuki. "It's not far."

They came to a stop after a couple of steps. "Here we are." She cheerfully stated.

"EH?"

The blue haired girl looked back to where they had just come from, finding the spot she was resting at before just a few meters away. Turning back to the door in front of her she watched as the woman produced a key from her pocket and unlocked the door. _How did?_

"Erm.. why do you have a key?" Natsuki was feeling a little anxious about the whole situation and was more than just a little confused about what had happened.

The woman opened the door and stepped to the side, holding it open to allow Natsuki to walk through. When the younger girl hesitated she crooked a finger at her, motioning for her to move forwards into the room. The girl took a few tentative steps into the darkened room, squinting slightly to try and see further in. As soon as she was past the entrance the door closed behind her, encasing them both into darkness. For a split second Natsuki was overcome with a sense of panic. Then the woman switched the light on.

White assaulted green, piercing, sharp, intense, and she had to close her eyes for a brief moment. When she opened them she was greeted with the sight of... cleanliness. Being in the room reminded Natsuki of the feeling gained after just cleaning your room. Everything feels neat and tidy and fresh. Looking around she spotted a small basin with liquid hand wash beside it, near that was a high rise bed with white linen sheets that screamed 'just washed'. There was a pale curtain pulled a little from the wall blocking off another bed behind the first one. To the other side of the room there was a desk, clean of papers and the usual objects that were expected to be seen in a room such as this. A rustle caught her ear and she turned her attention away from the room to the woman who was shrugging into a long white coat. Smoothing down the front of her coat she looked up and caught sight of Natsuki standing there, mouth agape.

"Take a seat." She motioned to the bed with a slight smile, intending to try and not overwhelm the poor girl.

Natsuki walked backwards until she felt a bump against her lower thighs, she placed her hands on the bed and felt it dip slightly as she pushed herself onto it. Her feet were left hanging in the air and she crossed her ankles, barely resisting the urge to swing her legs backwards and forth.

She watched as the older woman opened a draw and delicately took out a pair of thin, black reading glasses which she placed on the desk before reaching back into the draw and seizing a hair tie. Reaching back, she took hold of her hair, golden in the bright light, and tied it into a loose pony tail before picking back up the glasses and placing them lightly on her face. She turned back to her 'patient'.

"Ara, that's a nasty bruise"

"Huh?" Her voice retrieved Natsuki out of the stupor she had been submerged in while watching the woman ready herself for… work?

"Wait a second," It had just occurred to Natsuki that there was no one else in the room apart from them. This was strange as the other occupant had stated that they were going to see the… oh. "You're the nurse?!"

The outburst didn't seem to surprise the woman; instead she walked calmly over towards where Natsuki was seated and came to a stop right in front of her, her hips grazing Natsuki's knees. It made the younger girls stomach clench.

"It would appear so." She winked at the bluenette.

The bluenette spluttered in reply. "B-but that's impossible – the nurse is—"

"—right here." The pleasant cut off stopped the girl short in her indignation.

"You shouldn't smoke you know."

The change in subject derailed Natsuki's plan for further questioning and instead she watched quietly, brows furrowed, as the woman turned around and opened a few draws. Apparently finding what she was looking for she placed the items she had gathered onto a small steel table, one that she wheeled over to where Natsuki was sitting.

"Now—"

"Woah! W-whats all this!?" The wide eyed girl had been inspecting the steel table before glancing at the woman as she walked back to her. What had surprised her however were the objects that were on top of said steel table. Knives, needles, sharp, pointy, electric, scary looking things were all over it, and it was being steadily wheeled closer and closer to her person. Obviously she had a few slight concerns with this.

Very nearly falling off the bed, Natsuki scooted backwards, trying to get as far away from the instruments and the weird woman as soon as possible. Hoping to scare the woman away she turned her head up to look directly at her, preparing to unleash the Kuga death glare onto the evil, torturous, giggling, horrifying – wait. Giggling?

"Forgive me," she managed to get in a few words in between gasping for breath as she laughed. "I couldn't resist."

"Are you serious? What the hell is your problem; I nearly had a heart attack!"

"Ara, it's lucky I'm a certified doctor ne? I could have resuscitated you."

"You're crazy." This was said with utter seriousness.

She was flashed a toothy grin in response.

Sighing, Natsuki relaxed slightly, scooting back over to the edge of the bed while shaking her head.

"Look, can you just get this over with?" She was blushing now; she knew it, after just being royally embarrassed in front of the chestnut haired beauty she needed to regroup herself.

"Certainly."

The blasted woman was far too cheerful she decided.

Bypassing the dangerous-looking-weapons-that-could-in-no-way-pass-for-doctor's-tools she grabbed a green bottle and gently took hold of Natsuki's hand. Squeezing a generous amount of the substance on her palm she then proceeded to massage it tenderly onto the burn on the back of the girl's hand. She glanced up into the others startling jade eyes through the top of her glasses.

"May I know the name of my first patient?" Her voice was filled with barely suppressed mischievousness.

Natsuki harrumphed and turned her eyes away before unwillingly pushing out an answer past her unwilling lips. "Kuga Natsuki."

"_Na-tsu-ki_." She made her name sound so sensual and it made said girl all the more aware of the hands gently caressing her own. "Like the summer time, only much more beautiful." She looked up into the others blushing face before turning away and picking up a small bandage.

She placed the bandage neatly onto the recently massaged burn, skimming her fingers lightly over the hand one last time before gently placing it into Natsuki's lap.

"T-thanks, I guess." Natsuki wished in vain that she could speak a sentence to the woman in front of her with out stuttering or making a fool of herself. She suspected it would be in vain however, as this godlike creature in front of her had a way of making her brain a foggy haze.

Long, slender fingers suddenly took hold of her chin and the female in front of her frowned behind her glasses. She tilted the girls head to the side to get a better look at the purple patch that adorned Natsuki's temple.

"Interesting mark you have here, ne?"

Natsuki didn't reply, she knew very well how interesting it was, and she knew she had to think of an excuse. Fast. For now, however, she remained silent, scared to open her mouth in fear of blurting out something that she would no doubt regret.

"One wonders how Natsuki managed to receive it." The statement was more of a question as the crimson eyed woman turned her gaze on to her patient, silently requesting an answer.

"Ye—"Her voice came out husky and weak and Natsuki cleared her throat before starting to replay again. "Yesterday. I fell."

"Oh?" Her tone was lined with a hint of disbelief.

"Down, uh, a staircase." The green eyed girl averted her gaze to the ceiling.

"Perhaps I should check Natsuki for other bruises then?" She started to lift up the younger girl's shirt and it was at that time that the bluenette decided it was time to head tail and get out of there before she stumbled across anything incriminating.

"Listen," Natsuki evaded the prying hands and jumped of the table, backing out of the room, "I have to meet someone." She grabbed her bag from where it had been dropped on the floor near the desk. "Thanks for, uh, you know," She gestured towards her bandaged hand before walking briskly towards the door, fumbling with the handle, and finally stepping outside. The door closed behind her with a click.

Still inside the room, a chestnut haired woman frowned thoughtfully at the closed wood.

* * *

**A/N: **I can't express how much i want to thank everyone for the kind reviews and opinions about the story, i really appreciated the help and i hope you enjoyed the results. Sorry to those of you who were pinning for Shizuru to be a student or phychologist, hopefully you can still enjoy the story. I'll make it up to you i promise XD I also want to dedicate Shizuru's sexy white doctors coat to **Shazu **and her cute reading glasses to **BloodThornChaos **XD

To the rest of you guys i hope you can accept my gratitude for your reviews with this early, **very early**, update! Thanks again, can't wait to hear your thoughts in the chapter!


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